'How can you take £75,000 off me for board and lodging?' Wrongly convicted man wants money back

An innocent man who spent 20 years in prison for a crime he did not commit says he wants to recoup the £75,000 he was charged for "board and lodging" after his release.John Kamara was convicted of killing a betting shop manager in Toxteth in 1981.

In 2001, Mr Kamara was freed by the Court of Appeal after the conviction was declared unsafe.

During the appeal process, it emerged a statement had been gathering dust in a storeroom which undermined the key witness evidence that helped to put him in prison. Mr Kamara was compensated for those lost years, but says he was docked the £75,000 sum.Now, following the media frenzy around the case of fellow exoneree Andrew Malkinson, Mr Kamara says he is hopeful of that money being returned to him by the Ministry of Justice.Mr Kamara said "When I saw it written down on a piece of paper, all broken down; this much for board and lodging, this much for electricity, this much for food. It was ridiculous. I thought they were taking the p*** actually."They said we would have had to pay all these things on the outside. I have to laugh about it. I was like I didn't ask to be put in one of your 'hotels' you put me in, and honestly they were f****** dumps. The food was scandalous. How can you take £75,000 off me for board and lodging?"

Last month Andrew Malkinson's rape conviction was quashed by the Court of Appeal. Mr Malkinson spent 17 years in prison and had completed his sentence, but was still determined to clear his name.After years of inaction from the Criminal Cases Review Commission, who twice dismissed applications to review the case, it emerged that DNA samples taken from the victim had proved a match to another man, who is now under investigation by Greater Manchester Police. The force has issued an apology to Mr Malkinson.After his conviction was quashed by the Court of Appeal on July 26, Mr Malkinson railed against the policy of deducting board and lodging from compensation paid to wrongfully convicted prisoners. The publicity around his case forced the justice minister, Alex Chalk, KC, to release new guidance scrapping the policy.

Mr Kamara says he now hopes that money will be reimbursed, with interest, and has obtained legal representation.He said: "If I get this money, what I want to do is put it all into a charity for prisoners. I want to help prisoners who have been wrongfully convicted, it would be life after life. Because we all come out damaged. I know I am damaged, and the fella [Andrew Malkinson] will be damaged."A spokesman for the MOJ said it cannot comment on individual cases.